News

When I was a kid and I did not finish my vegetables, my parents would always remind me of the poor children starving in other parts of the world. Well now, parents who have children who complain about how long it takes to drive somewhere can say, "You are lucky you are not a child stranded in the 60+ mile traffic jam in China."It appears China's new love affair with the auto combined with truck traffic has resulted in a 10-day traffic jam that may span into September. The WSJ reports that businesses popped up along the route to take advantage of the captive audience, and law enforcement was ou...

Here at Lanier, it is no surprise that we support the concept of paid parking. However, that is not only because our business is built on managing paid parking operations. Placing a monetary value on the availability of parking is also good for the environment, congestion and urban planning.A recent article by Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, makes the economic case for more paid parking."Is this a serious economic issue? In fact, it is a classic tale of how subsidies, use restrictions, and price controls can steer an economy in wrong directions. Car owners may...

Excellent video about pedestrian safety and the built environment, in particular the "first-ring" suburbs. The focus is on Buford Highway in Atlanta, but this could be any suburban community in the United States.These first ring suburbs were built 30 to 40 years ago to accommodate the first wave of urbanites escaping the trappings of the inner cities, and they relied exclusively on the automobile to get around. Once hot growth spots, many of these communities have found themselves aging and declining, threatened by the pull of newer, farther out suburbs and gentrified inner cities.The populat...

China is learning very quickly what it took the U.S. decades to realize. You can’t solve traffic problems only by building and widening roads. In a New York Times story this week, Chinese cities are using BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) systems with elevated stations and lanes dedicated to the buses. Interestingly, it was the U.S. based Institute for Transportation & Development Policy that suggested the idea to the southern Chinese city of Guanghhou.</o:p> </o:p> "And they are not adopting necessarily the same model that the U.S. has adopted in trying to solve all their mobility needs through the ...

Should transit agencies be able to sell the naming rights to transit stations? This is a question being asked all over the U.S. as transit agencies struggle for money during these tough economic times. Philadelphia, New York, and Miami have agreed to rename their stations, and Detroit and Pittsburgh are considering it.At first glance it seems like a no brainer. We sell the rights to sports facilities, so why not transit stations?But nothing is as simple as it seems. Two very important issues that need to be addressed when considering selling the naming rights to transit stops:Is the nam...

Ever since July 2009 when the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute confirmed what we already knew, that cell phone use (talking and texting) while driving is dangerous (4 times and 23 times more dangerous than not, respectively), the country has been grappling with what policies should be put in place to minimize this risk.The federal government convened a Distracted Driving Summit, and through executive order made it illegal for truck drivers and federal employees to text and drive. States have followed suite with their own cell phone and texting laws, and the question is when will a nati...

Michael Robison, Chairman and CEO of Lanier Parking Solutions, spoke to a group of real estate executives about the business of parking, and what was truly amazing about the discussion was how little Michael spoke about parking. He spent most of this time talking about our efforts to promote alternative transportation solutions such as Zipcar and Streetcar.

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which I helped to plan this year, is in Atlanta next week, May 19-22. It's the 18th year of the event bringing the nation's most prestigious proponents and creators of livable, sustainable communities to the city for two days of networking, collaboration, education, tours and special programs. Anyone who would like to discuss development practices and public policies, learn from recent innovative work and advance new initiatives to transform communities, is welcome.See an excellent video: SPRAWLANTA.CNU is an urban design and development movement dedi...

I just ran across an interview with Tom Vanderbilt who writes the blog "How We Drive" and wrote the book "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)," and I had to share it.In the interview, Vanderbilt talks about the psychology of driving and the many false impressions drivers use to operate their vehicles. I have always been fascinated with the behavior of driving and how when a person gets in that enclose bubble we call a car, they become a different person. Why does that happen?Well, Vanderbilt has spent a great deal of time researching this phenomenon and many other...